The endless debate about the correct definition of a recession is going on and on. That's why I call it endless.
It continues ahead of US GDP data due this week, Thursday 23 July:
- This snapshot from the ForexLive economic data calendar, access it here.
- The times in the left-most column are GMT.
- The numbers in the right-most column are the 'prior' (previous month/quarter, as the case may be) result. The number in the column next to that, where is a number, is the consensus median expected.
Moody's have a preview:
- Among key data coming will be second-quarter GDP, which our high-frequency GDP model shows is on track to fall 1% at an annualized rate. Before the advance estimate, some additional source data will be released, but it remains likely that GDP fell for a second consecutive quarter.
- The GDP's weakness so far this year has been attributable to volatile and often mean-reverting components—net trade and inventories—while domestic final sales and gross domestic income have held up noticeably better. Also, GDP is only one of many variables that the National Bureau of Economic Research, the de facto arbiter of U.S. recessions, uses to define a recession as a "significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in production, employment, real income and other indicators."
Also this week, the Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meets, the statement is due at 1800 GMT on Wednesday 26 July at 1800 GMT, with Fed Chair Powell speaking at his news conference at 1830 GMT. Moddy's again:
- On monetary policy, the Federal Reserve is likely going to increase the target range for the fed funds rate by 75 basis points. There isn’t any data released ahead of the meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee that’s likely to push to committee to hike by 100 basis points.